Beauty Sleep
by AaronCottrell97
Summary: When Thomas returns home he is so tired that he won't wake up in the morning, so Emily decides to let him sleep in while she covers his work as well as her own. However, the struggle of covering both of their duties wears Emily down immensely, so Thomas decides to return the favor and lets Emily sleep in the next morning and Emily comes up with her own way of thanking Thomas.
It had been a busy day on the Island of Sodor, particularly for Thomas, who had more work than he usually got. Besides working on his Branch Line, he had been helping Salty and Porter at the Docks and Mavis at the quarry. By this time, he was just coming back to Knapford Sheds to rest as he didn't want to bother going the rest of the way to Tidmouth Sheds. He found a turntable first and turned round so he could back himself in. He was too tired to think about anything else…except falling asleep with his favorite engine…Emily. Just then, she came into the yards and was approaching Thomas.

"Hello, Tommy…Gosh, you look tired," she said.

Thomas groaned, "My wheels feel like rust. And I have to do even more tomorrow, my Branch Line run and more stone from the quarry to take to the docks."

"Well don't worry. You can rest up and regain your strength now," Emily smiled. Then, she noticed that Thomas had already been inside the shed, facing towards her…

"Well…you usually push me inside here to kiss me…looks like I get to be the dominant one now," she purred seductively. She came forward and as she gently pressed her sweet-tasting lips against Thomas', she pushed him into the back of the sheds. Thomas felt his eyes roll back into his head as he was motioned backwards inside the shed and felt his angel's sweet-tasting lips. Having Emily as the dominant one now made him feel safe, like she was protecting him from the outside world. Feeling so made him drift off to sleep as Emily settled down too.

The next morning, the pinkish-orange sun glowed through the window of Knapford Sheds, waking Emily up. She shuddered and yawned the sleep out of her when something broke the silence. She deduced that it was Thomas, snoring drowsily. Emily chuckled quietly at the sound.

"You're so funny," she whispered. She tried coaxing him awake by nudging him, whispering to him and even kissing him a few times, but Thomas wouldn't wake up. At first, Emily thought about whistling, but she knew from Philip's ironic race with Gordon that whistling or honking to a sleeping engine wasn't necessary. She decided it would be best to let her star catch up on his rest and she'd cover his work as well as her own. As Thomas snored again, she gave him a kiss on his cheek, drawing a smile from him.

"Sleep well, Thomas," Emily whispered as she backed out of the sheds, leaving Thomas to remain in his comfortable position.

Now Emily had work to do too. She needed to take trucks to the Coaling Plant and deliver the coal to all the coal hoppers and then take some visitors along the Black Loch route. To keep on schedule for herself and Thomas, before she collected the empty coal trucks, she found Annie and Clarabel on a siding near Knapford Station.

"Emily? Where's Thomas?" asked Annie.

"I'm afraid he's still sound asleep, Annie," said Emily. "He had a lot of work yesterday, so I'm letting him rest by taking you today."

"The poor thing," said Clarabel. "But thank you, Emily."

Emily giggled as she gently pulled Annie and Clarabel along. She found her waiting trucks on another siding and coupled up to them. At the first station on Thomas' Branch Line, the Fat Controller was a little confused seeing a freight train mixed with a passenger train. Emily filled him in on Thomas' situation. "We'd best let him rest, sir," said Emily. "I trust you know engines get cranky without enough sleep…like Gordon."

The Fat Controller agreed with Emily and let her go on with her day. She delivered all the passengers on time, but then she had to rush with her trucks to reach the Coaling Plant on time. After her trucks were loaded with coal, she panted to keep on time. By the time she delivered the coal to all the chutes, she was due to take her visitors along Black Loch…and Thomas' stone load to the docks would be due soon too. Hurriedly and wearily, she gathered two of her own coaches and the empty trucks waiting in the yards. She made good time with her passengers but was really beginning to feel tired. After her passenger duties were covered, she just had to deliver the trucks to the quarry and then take them to the docks. Then she could turn in for the night.

Mavis was waiting to see Thomas arrive and was surprised when she saw Emily coming into the quarry. By now, she was panting hard, her face was pink and she let off a loud hiss of steam as she finally had a chance to catch her breath.

"Emily!" exclaimed Mavis. "You look so tired! And why are you pulling this train? Where's Thomas?"

Emily took several seconds of breathing heavily before she could respond. "Huh…Ohh…I'm sorry, Mavis, I'm just so tired. Thomas was so tired from yesterday's work, I wanted to let him sleep while I did his work."

Mavis smiled. "That shows how faithful you are to him. When he can't do something, you step in for him and help him however you can."

By now, Emily had caught enough breath to talk more clearly and the pink in her face faded slightly as she cooled down a little. "Thank you, Mavis. I'm just doing what a loved one should always do." With that, Emily left the quarry and delivered the stone to Brendam Docks, just in time. Then she puffed away, slowly and gently. By this time, all Emily wanted to do was slump into the sheds, close her eyes and not open them for a great number of hours.

That evening, as she neared Knapford Sheds, she could see that Thomas was now awake and looking nervous. He didn't know that Emily had covered all his work and felt like he was in for trouble.

"Oh dear! I'm going to get into so much trouble for sleeping in!" he said. He rushed to a small turntable, turned round and saw Emily backing into the shed.

"Already taken care of, Thomas," she said, quite obviously tired. She told him all about covering his work besides her own. Thomas couldn't believe how giving and considerate Emily was. Not that she wasn't but he didn't think she'd do all his work just to let him sleep in.

"Thank you, Emily," Thomas squeaked. Emily simply smiled, then let out a deep, sleepy yawn.

"I can't move my wheels anymore," she said. "I just want to…relax…until I take the Black Loch route again then deliver paint-pots to Ulfstead Castle tomorrow."

"Well, I'm full of energy now," said Thomas. "Why don't I do all that for you and let you sleep?" That made Emily very happy and relieved.

"Oh, thank you, Tommy," she beamed. "Thank you so much." Thomas smiled and gently pushed Emily into the back of the sheds while pressing his lips against her's, lulling her to sleep at once.

When the sun rose, Thomas woke up, feeling well-rested and energetic. He saw that Emily was still sound asleep with a content smile on her face and was breathing softly and steadily.

" _She's so beautiful_ ," Thomas thought. He kissed her cheek very gently, drawing a happy sigh from her as she relaxed and kept sleeping.

"Sleep well, Emily," Thomas whispered. And he went off to collect Annie and Clarabel and Emily's coaches too. He told Annie and Clarabel about Emily and how he was going to return the favour.

"How sweet, Thomas," said Annie and Clarabel together. "Just being a gentleman, your ladyships," said Thomas as he went off to his Branch Line. His passengers were grateful that he was taking Emily's coaches too. That gave them more room to spread out. When Thomas finished his Branch Line run, he left Annie and Clarabel in a siding then went on his way for Knapford Station to pick up Emily's passengers. On the way, he passed Knapford Sheds, quietly. He heard a whistle and saw it was Henry passing by.

"Shh!" whispered Thomas. "Don't wake her up!" Henry looked at the sleeping Emily and went even slower to keep the noise down.

Thomas went carefully with Emily's coaches and her passengers along the route. Although he didn't like fetching them back when Emily accidentally took his coaches, he couldn't help but enjoy pulling them for a change. Over the years Emily had been given more coaches of the same design to help with the increasing amount of passengers each year. They were indeed a perfect match for her. After he finished with Emily's passengers he only needed to take the paint-pots to Ulfstead Castle. On his way to collect them, he passed Knapford Sheds once again. He heard another whistle and saw that it was Edward.

"Shush!" Thomas whispered. "Emily's asleep!" And indeed she still was. She was dreaming about her star and enjoying the blissful feeling of rest.

Thomas made good time delivering the paint pots and the Earl and Fat Controller were very impressed with him.

"Excellent work today, Thomas," said the Fat Controller. By that evening, Thomas returned to Knapford Sheds to see Emily. Just as he stopped, she woke up to see her star. She yawned loudly and long as she felt her strength flow back into her. "Hello, Tommy. Thank you so much for taking my work today," she smiled.

"No need to thank me, sweetheart," said Thomas. "I'm just being your cobalt star at his best."

"Well…now that you're back here…why don't you be the absolute best?" she asked.

Thomas knew exactly where she was going. He buffered up to her and kissed her all over her face, listening to her laughs and giggles. Then she repaid him by doing the same. All Thomas could say afterwards was, "Oh, Gosh…" After a few minutes, he spoke again.

"Did you sleep well?"

"Oh, I had a wonderful sleep…just like a baby," Emily beamed. "But I sleep even better when you hold me to keep me warm and comfortable."

"Don't you worry. I'm here just for you, like I always promise." They kissed each other goodnight and fell asleep, and Emily had come up with a thank-you to give Thomas, that very night…

A few minutes later, Thomas' sleep was interrupted by a sound. Something he wasn't expecting at all. It was definitely Emily's whistle. She had planned to hold in some of her steam and was repaying him by giving him a sleep-whistle of her own. Thomas could not believe it. He couldn't sleep-whistle often anyway and felt like he wouldn't get to hear this sound very much.

"Emily!" He whispered loudly. Emily opened her eyes and said wearily as the whistling stopped, "What is it, Thomas?"

"Was that you sleep-whistling?" he asked. Emily explained everything to Thomas.

"Thomas, I'm only able to hear your sleep whistle every once in a while," said Emily. "But I wanted to thank you for letting me sleep by sleep-whistling myself for you. I'm sorry, but I won't be able to do this much myself, but I want you to enjoy it while you can for tonight."

Thomas smiled. "Thank you, Emily. I'd love that very much."

"I love you, Thomas," Emily smiled back as she gave him a kiss.

"I love you too, Emily. Sweet dreams," Thomas answered. He kissed her cheek and fell asleep again. Emily fell back asleep too and resumed her sleep-whistling as promised and smiled, knowing that although it was only on occasion, Thomas would love hearing this sound. They slept on into the night, feeling peaceful, happy and content.

* * *

Well folks we have reached the end of "The Jeremy Chronicles" with Jeremy's final original story idea, for now anyway, he still has some more but they're for a later date. With that said I'm glad we were able to finish this series with my favorite of the four stories. So you guys know the drill by now, leave a review and we will see you all next time.


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